A curling legend

One morning back in 2005, as I was picking up my morning Tim Hortons coffee, I noticed the Tim Hortons Briar Edmonton 2005 promotional poster with the picture of the legendary Richardson curling team with brooms raised in victory. As an avid fan and curler, I was so taken with the poster that I asked the store supervisor if I might have it when they changed the poster. I was lucky enough to be given it. I bought a frame for it, but never got around to framing it.
This past summer, my wife and I planned to camp our way across the western provinces. She had never been west of Ontario. Just prior to our departure date I offhandedly remarked to my wife that we should take the poster and see if we could get it signed by Ernie Richardson himself . One thing led to another and unknown to her, I did some research on the internet and 10 days prior to our departure date, I sent a letter to an address I felt was Ernie Richardson's. Four days later I received an email from Mrs Richardson. My wife was a little unbelieving when I informed her we were going to get the poster signed.I kept in contact via email as we progressed towards Saskatchewan. Things went better than we could ever have hoped for. We were honoured to be invited to dinner with Ernie and his wife. We spent a very memorable evening with them. Ernie signed the poster as well as a card from a 1993 curling card set. Mrs Richardon noted that I also had the cards of the other members of the team and volunteered to attempt to get the remaining cards signed by Arnold and Sam in Saskatchewan, and Wes in Hawaii. What wonderful curling ambassadors!
We had a terrific vacation. Each day started with a fresh brewed pot of Tim Horton's coffee at our campsites. Upon our return home, 8 weeks after leaving, there was an envelope postmarked Honolulu and one postmarked from Saskatchewan. All the cards had been signed. The poster and signed cards are now framed and prominently displayed in our home. Thank you Tim Hortons
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